New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-12-29
A PITILESS REDUCTION.
,r oFFENDs BOTH LANDLORD AND TENANT.
-ur PLAN OF CAMPAIGN JUSTIFIED DY THE ACTION
or THE LAND COMMISSIONERS WITH REFER
ryCE TO JUDICIAL RENTS IN IRELAND.
my d IRIRUNHI
IDY CABLE TO the TRlBUNE.I

TNCE TO JUDICIAL RENlo IN ihLhhND'
IBY CABLE TRIBUNE.i
copvrioht; 1887; BY The Neto- York Tribune
IoxDox Dee 2S.-The topic of the moment IS
.he announcement of revised judicial rents made
bv the irish Land Commissioners In last night S
nublin Gazette" Last year Mr. Parncll introduced
bill providng among other things for revision
=, rents fixed by the Land Commissioners before
.ho ocriultural depression had become severe.
Tho hill was thrown out Later on Lord Salisbury
aocIorcd that the Government would not consent to
any revision of judicial rents which he considered
would he dishonest and neXpcdcnt.
This being the resolution of the Government in
,aguc with the landlords the Irish leaders devised
,hc Plan of Campaign for the protection of the
tenants against the determination war that was TO
he wagcd last winter. The determination of the
Government continued even while the present
Land Act was going through the House. but urder
The pressure of the Plan of Campaign outside and
Of frightened Liberal Unionists inside the House,
Lord Salisbury was obliged to capituatc; and
even while Mr.. CUschcn was swearing that he
would die on the floor sooner than consent to vio-
late the sanctity of judicial contracts. the Pre-
mer drawing up clause to put all the Ju-
dicia contracts into the meltingpot
At first he proposed to give the Land Commits
sioners an equitable jurisdiction to revise the jul
dicia rents. but when the bill went to the House
of Lords he withdrew the equitable jurisdiction
and tied the Land Commissioners down to a hard
and fast calculation based strictly upon the atcra-
tion in prices of produce
Mr. Iarnell pointed out that this arrangement
completely destroyed the value of the concession
iuasmuch as it forbade the Commissioners taking
into account the quantity of crop well as the
price it fetched in the market and several other
circumstances which affected the value of a farm.
Mr. Parncll and the Irish party washed their hands
Of the bill from that moment.
II is the revision made according to this ar
rangcmcnt that was announced Last night. As
was to be expected, it is quite illusory. Broadly
speaking, II takes eff from 10 to - per cent of
the entire judicial rental in Ireland. TO he nearer
The figures demanded by the necessities OF the case
il should take OF at least 50 GO per cent Of the
rents fixed prior to $50. Almost all Landlords
who have settled with their tenants under the
Plan of Campaign, or voluntarily, have done this
at least during Tie past twelve months. They
have given reductions averaging 25 per cent on
judicial rents fixed last year or on rents when inc
tnants admitted last year to have been then more
or less fairly reduced Now upon rents fixed in
1885 the Land Commissioners practically make no
reduction at all and they have no power to touch
tbe rents of 1856 This fact when properly
weighed will reveal the monstrous absardity OF
this sham revision.
To mention an example, three weeks ago Lord
Hartinetons father, the Duke of Dcvonshlre' on
one of the most fairly managed and wealthlest
properties in the South of Ireland voluntarily re-
duccd last years rents by % per cent, these
rents themselves having been reduced by 20 per
cent from the rents of Ssl and 1882 But the
Land Commissioners revision of the whole as
trict in which this property IS situated marks no
reduction at all for the rents fixed in 1883 ana
only from 10 to II per cent for the rents fixed In
lssi-s2 Their revision, moreover JumDles up
the poorest and most racS-rentcd estates with the
richest and most fairly rented and applies the
same average to them all
The thing is simply grOtesque, ana II VIII nave
the effect of driving the tenants all over lrciaho
into the Plan of Campaign. Nevertheless II mas
driven the landlords wild. because by stroke OF
the pen their own cccrciOnist Government by law
cuts some ~ 600 600 off their rental ii Lord
Salisbury had had the statcsmanshlp to douoe IIiis
sum he would not have made the landlords any
npt,rier and he would have gone good way toward
satisfying the tenants, who would be anxious TO
sacrifce something for the sake of peace As II
is. he has satisfied nobody and has only lnstlhcd
the Plan Of Campaign and given it huge adver-
t;sencut i. Il. GILL, NJ l..